


Solitude

by Galaxy_Phoenix



Category: Original Work
Genre: I wrote this as a vent fic a while back like a year ago and just rediscovered it, Original Character-centric, Original Fiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Vent fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-30 02:05:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18305963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galaxy_Phoenix/pseuds/Galaxy_Phoenix
Summary: A young girl goes to her favorite spot to find her sense of calm





	Solitude

**Author's Note:**

> Was originally a vent post on Tumblr, now it's on here.

The final bell rung for the day as young students rushed out of the school to meet up with friends or to go into town. It was an overcast day over the town by the ocean, the clouds displaying a grayscale above them. In the bustling crowd of children, a lonely child cut through the crowd like a human knife, weaving in and out, trying to get out of the noisy space. Her oversized white shirt with her paint-covered overalls and long curly hair made her stand out from the rest of her peers, who appeared to be cleaner and better-dressed.

No one stopped her, no one even went up to her; they were all in their own little cliques and little worlds of their own. 

She was glad. She didn’t hate her classmates, far from it, but she felt so distant from them. 

She walked unnoticed from the schoolyard and down the wet sidewalk into town. Old cars drove by as they ride to their destinations with a hint of urgency, not caring to glance at the life around them. People were walking about, lost in their own little worlds as their own goals and lives were not the concern of others. Some people did talk, but the talking felt empty. The town of Oceanside was downcast and dreary as it sometimes was when the weather was not the most pleasant. 

She didn’t mind the people walking to and fro for they did not even bother her one bit. She saw the trolley stop to the side as people shuffled on and off. Joining the other passengers, she stepped on and paid the 25-cent fare as she took an empty seat by the window. The overcast weather seemed to have taken a toll on the usually cheerful trolley. There were not many passengers in waiting: there was an older couple a few seats up in the opposite aisle from her, a weather-beaten sailor with a worn face lounges in the back, taking up the majority of the back seat, and a mother was cradling a new-born in her arms trying to keep warm. The trolley car was empty of not only people but life as well.

The trolley car followed the metal tracks to the other side of town like it had done for decades, the tracks and car showing obvious age as it creaked along. The child stared out into the street as cars, people, and storefronts went by. The trolley passed Gina’s Diner, The Record Town Record Store, Millie’s Millinery, and other familiar shops as the trolley reached the end of the line. Feeling the trolley halt slowly, the child watches as the other passengers get off first before grabbing her backpack and art supplies and followed suit. 

“You take care of y’self Airika. Tell your momma I said hello.”

“I will, sir.” She replied with a little smile at the dark-skinned trolley driver. He was a very kind older man, about in his sixties and thin as the rails the trolley drove on.

Airika stepped off the trolley car at the waiting station where several people walk up to get on. Airika proceeds to walk straight back as the adults solemnly walk by without so much as a greeting. She stares out at the long dirt road ahead of her, wide and the color of rust, with tall trees on each side, reached to the sky. Airika took a breath and started to walk to the great unknown wilderness. 

The walk was quiet as she was the only human being out on the road. In the woods, she could hear birds chirping away, sometimes singing, as they zipped by from branch to branch. The gentle hum of bugs was in the air as well. In the distance on her left, she could hear the ocean as the tide would roll in and crash on the shore. The path had no one on it. 

She was alone.

Something far away caught her eye: It was a blue rope tied around the base of the tree. Airika walked up to it as she started to steer off the road. She touched the bark, similar to bark found on a fir tree, shifted her backpack and proceeded to climb, one limb at a time without slowing down. 

A witness would say that she had the climbing skills of a monkey, as she knew exactly what branch to pull on to and which ones to stand. She climbed hastily with strength and ease as she reached the top and found a spot to sit down. Getting situated, she looks outward to see a view of the ocean with its rolling waves and gray waters, the clashing sounds of water hitting the large rocks echoing in the area. 

The whole atmosphere had a melancholy tone, yet there was a certain beauty to it, like witnessing something tragically beautiful. The grayscale-colored environment of the sea and sky, and the empty, lonely feeling had a sort of calming effect.

A soft ocean breeze blew, whipping her long curls around lightly as she stared out into the ocean, seemingly past it. 

What lies beyond the horizon? What lies in the near future? Would it matter? Does it matter?

Airika took a breath and felt herself become calm.

The solitude was actually comforting.


End file.
